The University of North Dakota has been re-accredited as a "CEO Cancer Gold Standard" employer for 2013, according to an initiative supported by the American Cancer Society. The re-accreditation comes in light of the University's commitment to maintaining a high standard of excellence in cancer prevention, early detection and quality care.

The "CEO Cancer Gold Standard" is awarded only after a company meets or exceeds the rigorous requirements set out by the CEO Roundtable on Cancer. To earn a Gold Standard accreditation, a company or organization must establish programs to (1) reduce cancer risk, through discouraging tobacco use, encouraging physical activity and teaching diet and nutrition; (2) detect cancer at its earliest stages; and (3) provide access to quality care and clinical trials.

UND is continuing to meet the high standards of this initiative, which will not only help with cancer prevention, but will assist in reducing the risk for other serious conditions such as obesity, and chronic and expensive diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Healthy employees are crucial to the health of an organization. According to CEO Roundtable on Cancer, as many as 75 percent of cancer deaths in the United States are cause by behaviors such as smoking, poor diet and physical inactivity. The risk of developing cancer in one's lifetime has been calculated to be approximately 45 percent for men and 38 percent in women. The National Cancer Institute noted in 2010 that new cancer cases could total 1.5 million in the United States and of those, nearly half were expected to die.

Heart disease remains the leading cause of death in the U.S. followed by cancer.

UND and Harvard School of Public Healthy are among the few universities accredited with this high standard. Some of the other organizations that have received this recognition include the American Cancer Society, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Johnson & Johnson, Lowe's, Mayo Clinic, State Farm Insurance and Susan G. Komen for the Cure.

UND was the first University to receive accreditation in 2008 and has been re-accredited every year.

About The CEO Roundtable on Cancer:

The CEO Roundtable on Cancer was founded in 2001, when former President George H.W. Bush challenged a group of executives, led by Robert A. Ingram, then the CEO of Glaxo Wellcome, now GlaxoSmithKline, to "do something bold and venturesome about cancer within your own corporate families." The CEOs responded with the CEO Cancer Gold Standard, and have since collaborated with the American Cancer Society to encourage its widespread adoption in workplaces across the country